


Empty Creature

by antivanii



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Drabble, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 06:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18005888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antivanii/pseuds/antivanii
Summary: It was addictive, and it quickly started to feel like home.The warmth of a recompleted heart.





	Empty Creature

**Author's Note:**

> I know that Nomura stated that KHIII Vanitas was a past heart in a replica body, but I've decided to ignore that and give him the second chance he deserves.

Air filled his lungs.

 

Vanitas gasped and clawed at the sand beneath him. He breathed in and choked as he turned to his side, curled up against the gray, dusty beach.

 

There was a soft breeze, but it was soundless, his surroundings the same dull gray as the sand. He startled as something touched his feet. He sat up on his hands and knees, his movements shaky as he turned to see the waves coming ashore, just as silent as the faint wind.

 

He felt like being sick.

 

The pain of the battle at the graveyard mocked him. In defeat, he couldn’t show his weakness. It was a tactic he’d long since learned from his old master. He concealed the pain in the face of his enemies, but alone, it crashed over him until it was unbearable. Vanitas spat out into the sand and saw blood, watching it as it floated away into the ocean.

 

_ I’ve been here before. _

 

The realization came to him. This was the realm of darkness.

 

Vanitas remembered its vast emptiness. The last time he’d been there, he wandered for ages, still able to remember the way the χ-blade felt against his fingertips as he grasped for it before his body shattered and faded away into nothingness. The terror of reliving that consumed him. Vanitas laughed.

 

He couldn’t have ended up anywhere more fitting for a creature like himself.

 

A dark figure somewhere in the shadows stirred behind him, and he flinched in fear.

 

Vanitas tried to stand, but a sharp pain in his side dragged him back down to the ground.

 

_ I’m going to rot here. _

 

A small beast tore itself from a pool of darkness at Vanitas’ back. The flood twitched and slithered, born of Vanitas’ despair. At least, he thought, he wasn’t alone anymore.

 

The unversed hissed, its body suddenly recoiling as it looked out over the sea.

 

Vanitas stared at it before following its line of sight, and he was nearly blinded by a light on the horizon.

 

“The hell…?”

 

Vanitas winced as he attempted to get on his feet again. He cradled his side, feeling the wound there as he squinted into what looked like a blinding, radiant sunrise. He raised his hand, shielding his eyes from it when he realized it wasn’t the sun, although he had no other explanation as to what it could be.

 

The flood at his side was consumed by his body again. He experienced the emotion once more. It was loneliness.

 

He was going to be alone there forever.

 

The light beckoned him to walk forward.

 

There was no other option. Vanitas walked out into the water until he was waist deep, struggling to move against the current. His feet lifted off the ocean floor.

 

_ I can’t swim. _

 

Vanitas’ arms flailed uselessly. His body was being dragged forward despite the waves until his chin fell beneath the surface, and then he was sinking down.

 

It wasn’t terror that he was feeling. It was bliss.

 

He wouldn’t have to worry about the impending loneliness if his body  _ and _ heart perished. He struggled only briefly before willingly inhaling the water into his lungs, feeling the way it burned.

 

That kind of pain would’ve sprouted countless unversed if he wasn’t already dying.

 

Vanitas stared up at the glimmering light above the water as he sank deeper. He remembered feeling a small sense of hope when he first saw it, thinking that perhaps it was some kind of salvation. He had walked toward it hoping to escape his cruel fate, but it was a fallacy. There was no hope for him. There never had been.

 

He had followed the light against his better judgement, and now it was punishing him.

 

_ Xehanort only taught me pain. He never taught me how to swim. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Air filled his lungs.

 

“Vanitas!”

 

His ears wouldn’t stop ringing. An intense, bright light made him close his eyes as soon as he’d opened them. Everything was too loud, and his chest hurt as he coughed up seawater.

 

“H-hey, can you hear me?”

 

Vanitas felt weak. His body was heavy, and lifting his arm caused measurable strain until quite suddenly, it became easy. Gorgeous green vines surrounded his body, and golden bells chimed to replace the grating ring in his ears. The physical pain faded until a pleasant warmth radiated throughout him. Vanitas coughed again, and when he blinked, he saw him.

 

“Ventus…?”

 

The warmth spread. Ventus pulled Vanitas to sit up before bringing him close to his chest, holding him in a tight embrace. “I thought I’d lost you…”

 

Vanitas couldn’t think. His entire world stopped as he sat there in the sand, clinging to the person he’d spent so much time chasing. Vanitas always saw Ventus as an end to his suffering, nothing more than a pawn in the master’s plan. He’d been told that forging the blade would rid the world of everything, including pain. But when Ventus held him, the pain was gone.

 

“You did lose me. I got what I wanted.” Vanitas’ voice was soft and monotone. He couldn’t concentrate enough to put any venom into his words.The warmth was so distracting. It faded slightly when Ventus pulled away to face him.

 

“Vanitas, you just  _ washed up _ here on the islands, I…”

 

Vanitas shoved him away. He scowled, looking around briefly to take in his surroundings until his heart ached in his chest, craving to be close to that warmth again. His eyes were suddenly vulnerable, reaching out for Ventus and grabbing the front of his shirt before pulling him against his own chest again, sighing as the warmth encapsulated him once more.

 

He wondered how he ended up there on the beach. The last thing he remembered was drowning in the dark.

 

“Did you save me?”

 

Ventus looked at Vanitas and shied away. “Yeah…”

 

Vanitas reached up and touched his own lips. The warmth lingered there. Was it Ventus who guided him there? Surely he only meant that he helped to resuscitate him.

 

“Why?”

 

Vanitas stared at Ventus. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he was worthy of being saved.

 

Ventus smiled. “Don’t you feel it?” He took his hand and placed it over his chest before doing the same for Vanitas.

 

Vanitas felt the warmth spread from Ventus’ palm. Was that what light felt like?

 

“It’s over, Vanitas. It’s finally over. He’s gone… we can start over. You can be more than just a shadow. You’ve been given a second chance.”

 

It wouldn’t be that simple. It couldn’t be. Nothing in Vanitas’ life ever had been. Vanitas didn’t belong to the light, and he never would.

 

But that warmth told him otherwise. Vanitas clung to Ventus and sought after it. It was addictive, and it quickly started to feel like home.

 

The warmth of a recompleted heart.

 

“It’s over,” Vanitas repeated. “He’s gone… it’s over,” and this time, he believed it.

  
  



End file.
